Barbra Streisand Gets Unexpectedly Political With Robert Redford Oscar Tribute: Dark Times in Our History

Barbra Streisand made a surprise appearance at the Academy Awards on Sunday night to honor the memory of her late co-star and friend, Robert Redford.

The stage and screen legend sang a portion of “The Way We Were,” the Oscar-winning ballad from the 1973 film of the same name, during the evening’s “In Memoriam” segment. The moment was a bittersweet tribute to Redford, who died in September last year at age 89.

In her introductory remarks, Streisand drew parallels between “The Way We Were,” which she described as taking place during a “dark time in our history,” and the present, while praising Redford’s real-life political activism.

“He spoke to defend press freedom, protect the environment and encourage new voices at his Sundance Institute, some of whom are nominated for Oscars tonight,” he said. “He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail…I miss him now more than ever.”

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While it had been rumored for weeks, the Streisand tribute was not publicly announced before Sunday’s ceremony. The 83-year-old actress last appeared at the Oscars in 2019, when she introduced Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” one of the year’s Best Picture nominees, and took a selfie with “Can You Forgive Me?” Actor Richard E. Grant, who wrote him a fan letter when he was 14 years old.

His last performance on Oscar night was in 2013, when he sang “The Way We Were” in honor of the late composer Marvin Hamlisch, who co-wrote the song with Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

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Redford and Streisand have been paired in the public imagination since the release of “The Way We Were” some 53 years ago. Directed by Sydney Pollack, the film follows a whirlwind romance between a Jewish Marxist activist, Katie Morosky (Streisand), and Hubbell Gardiner (Redford), a privileged and apolitical novelist, in the 1940s and early 1950s.

Despite a famously tumultuous production, “The Way We Were” was a critical success, receiving six Oscar nominations and winning two.

In her 2023 memoir, “My Name is Barbra,” Streisand recalled how Redford had turned down the role of Hubbell at least twice before he was convinced to sign up for the film.

“The courtship had been tough, but Bob’s reluctance greatly influenced the script and ultimately resulted in a richer, more interesting character,” she wrote, adding, “He and I had a real relationship and the audience could feel it.”

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She shared similar sentiments in an Instagram post last year, calling Redford “charismatic, smart, intense, always interesting and one of the greatest actors of all time.”

“We were very opposite: he was from the horse world; I was allergic to them!” she noted. “However, we are still trying to learn more about each other, just like the characters in the film.”

While the success of “The Way We Were” fueled conversations about a sequel for years, a sequel to the film never materialized. Still, Redford and Streisand remained close friends and met publicly on several occasions, including a 2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

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